Author: Dana

We landed in Natal mid-afternoon on Christmas day. Our friend Anna and many of her family and friends picked us up and took us to a wonderful house where we stayed the week. After an incredible meal provided by Anna’s dad, we joined the church to take food, drink, and clothes to the homeless on Christmas night. Thirteen Americans and about twenty Brazilians hit the streets of Natal in the Name of Jesus.

Natal is the largest city in its state with close to one million people. Almost two hundred thousand inhabitants are foreigners, most from Europe who moved to enjoy the climate and beauty of the northeastern coast. As in our cities, there are many poor and needy people. The pastor of the church we worked with became a hero of mine from day one. He knew where to find the hurting and as we stopped at different locations, Orlando went into the streets and alleys announcing food and fellowship for all.

The first place we visited was near a bridge in a rough part of the city. As a small group of homeless men and women gathered, Orlando asked us to share a message of God’s goodness and sing a couple of songs in our language. Anna’s nieces, Renata and Fernanda, were our excellent translators. After we sang a couple of Christmas songs, our new friends sang worship songs in Portuguese.

Soon after we stopped, I noticed a man immediately walk to the car containing the food and clothes. He did not seem to want to wait until after the devotional time to receive the blessings. Being the ex-assistant principal I am, I wished I could have told this young man named Perecles to be patient. I’m sure Orlando said this to him, but he did not seem to listen. Eventually Perecles attached himself to our tallest team member who was wise to get Fernanda to translate. Perecles pointed to his bare feet and told of a time that a bus ran over him and practically destroyed both feet. “But I cried out to the Lord and Jesus healed me completely. But now, as you see, I really need some shoes.” This particular team member wears size sixteen shoes, quite a bit bigger than the feet of the homeless man, so he shared that God has a way of providing for our needs at just the right time and that he would pray God would provide for Perecles. Another team member walked up as this prayer was being offered and noticed that his feet were about the same size as the homeless man’s. At the end of the prayer, the American took off his shoes and gave them to Perecles, who put them on and hugged both foreigners and kissed them on the cheeks, which is the custom of the land. Soon after this beautiful moment, we hopped back into cars to go to another location.

I guess we had driven a little less than a mile when the pastor parked his car on the side of the road and started calling for all to come to the feast. We repeated what we had done at the first stop with different individuals sharing. A larger crowd gathered at this place and as I watched things unfold, I noticed something familiar out of the corner of my eye. It was Perecles! “How did he get here?” I thought to myself, “He is just coming to get more handouts.” My disciplinarian mind was kicking into high gear, but never had I been so wrong. Perecles motioned for Fernanda and the American in sock feet to come to him. He rattled off some Portuguese and Fernanda translated. “When you drove off, tears came to my eyes and I cried and cried. I had taken the shoes of a guest of our city. This is not right.” Then Perecles took off his new shoes, got down on his knees, and put them on the confused American. After tying them, he rose and hugged his new friend. The American tried to explain that he did not need the shoes and that he wanted to give them away, but Fernanda wisely shook her head. She saw what was happening. A man who had nothing was experiencing the joy of giving. “I am used to going without shoes,” Perecles said. “I can’t let a guest go barefoot!” Many tears were shed that night as a tiny section of the Body of Christ from Atlanta joined a tiny part of the Body of Christ from Natal to proclaim the love of our King.

Every night we were in Brazil, we met with different groups of Christians and seekers. On a couple of occasions, our Brazilian friends shared the story of the Christmas shoes, the title of this writing. At the end of the story, the teller would often ask a question. All of us knew the answer. “So tell me, who gave the greater gift?”

“As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” Luke 21:1-4

Please pray for Anna Leitao and her family in Brazil. This week her uncle died suddenly of a heart attack and everyone is heartbroken. The funeral was yesterday and the family would appreciate all prayers from the Body of Christ in this difficult time.

We first met Anna several months before the 1996 Olympics when she was twenty-eight years old and in charge of organizing young people coming from all over the world to witness for Christ on the streets of Atlanta. She brought missionary friends from several nations into our home and we were all quite mesmerized by the different languages… Portuguese, Korean, German, Hindi, Chinese, Afrikaans… This was the first time I really got a taste of the expanse, the diversity, and the unfathomable beauty of the Body of Christ. Anna became a Christian in Brazil at age nineteen and has shared about her Savior on every continent (except Antarctica) for over twenty-one years. Peter wrote about believers that chose “not to live the rest of earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” I see this as a description of our Brazilian sister and anytime she is in Atlanta she seems to always share exactly what the Lord wants us to hear.

Anna has an incredible heart for young people and Taylor, Kinsey, and Karlyn love her. She’s given them rides on her motorcycle in Hawaii, defeated them in ping pong in our basement, and prayed for them as a friend. What I’ve loved to witness over these years is the humility of a gifted leader. I’ve learned from Anna that our natural talents don’t bless the Kingdom too much unless we offer ourselves fully to the Lord and depend on him for direction. This, of course, is not as easy as it sounds… especially for us Americans who struggle with patience. Anna might argue that Brazilians have less patience than Americans, but her example of dependence and submission to our Father in Heaven has blessed me tremendously.

For years we’ve talked about accepting Anna’s invitation to join her on an outreach in Brazil. So this Christmas, Lord willing, between her work in Cape Town, South Africa and the Indonesian island, Bali, our family and twelve others from church will visit her home town, Natal… which just happens to mean “Christmas.” We hope we can bless and encourage Anna’s family, the church, the homeless in the city, children, and our dear friend. Of course, I predict we’ll receive far more blessing than we give. (I’ve found that’s the way God often worksJ.)

So, I won’t be writing for a couple of weeks. We would appreciate your prayers as we fly south Christmas Eve. And I wish you all: Feliz Natal! (Merry Christmas!)

Tchau (bye), Just practicing my new language… (Not quite fluent yetJ)

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’” Luke 2:25-32

Kinsey was really moved during her visit to Rwanda. Most are familiar with the terrible genocide in which nearly one million people were killed in 1994. Every Rwandan she met her age or older lived through the horrors that engulfed a beautiful Central African nation nicknamed ‘Land of a Thousand Hills.’

A young man named Charles led Kinsey’s group of college students on a memorial tour around Kigali, the capitol. Kinsey said Charles was one of the most joyful persons she has ever met. Several wondered how this could be true of one who witnessed the brutal murder of his father, mother, and older sister. Thirteen-year-old Charles hid in a cave for months, eating roots, bark, and anything else he could find to survive. He emerged from the hills, skin and bones, many days after the fighting had stopped. So how does a boy traumatized in such a horrible way grow up to be a young man characterized by happiness? Charles told the group, God was the only answer, but he, himself, had to take an important step. He had to forgive.

Immaculee Ilibagiza proclaims the same message in her book, ‘Left To Tell,’ chronicling her amazing story. After the Hutus had been driven from the land, surviving Tutsis found themselves in charge of towns and prisons holding many who had slaughtered their neighbors. One such leader dragged the very man who had murdered Immaculee’s mother and oldest brother to face her. “We found your dad’s farm machinery at his house, didn’t we? He wanted you dead so he could take over your property. Didn’t you, pig?” The man, who had once tortured others, now kneeled in shame, sobbing before Immaculee. “He looked up at me for only a moment, but our eyes met. I reached out with tears streaming down my face, touched his hand lightly, and quietly said what I’d come to say. ‘I forgive you.’”

The man in authority was stunned… and furious. He later asked, “What was that all about? That was the man who murdered your family. I brought him to you to question… to spit on if you wanted to. But you forgave him! How could you do that?” Immaculee’s answer was full of grace and power. “Forgiveness is all I have to offer.”

Forgiveness works both ways… it is what we all need when we’ve sinned, but as we offer it to others, we are freed. Immaculee knew that if she and her fellow Tutsis simply lived to avenge the deaths of their loved ones, more murder and chaos was sure to follow. Where would it end? But when she forgave, God chose her to be an instrument of peace. Don’t think it is easy, but it is the only way. Charles now helps other Rwandan orphans regain their lives. He is called to bless… free from bitterness and hatred.

Jesus teaches us to love and forgive and show mercy, and we must to depend on Him to help us. Perhaps Charles and Immaculee…and Kinsey would say this is one of the ways God’s Kingdom comes to earth.

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your Name, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:9-15

Last Friday, ABC News named D. J. Gregory its ‘Person of the Week.’ D. J. was born with cerebral palsy and doctors told his parents their child would be confined to a wheelchair all his life. His parents didn’t accept the doctor’s word that their son would never walk and decided to explore all possibilities. Their little boy underwent five surgeries before he entered first grade and finally learned to walk with a cane. A sports lover without the physical capabilities to play most games, D. J. taught himself to lean on his cane and swing a golf club with one hand. He loved to play golf, but of course could not become a professional. This past year, the Professional Golf Association agreed to let D. J. walk with a different pro each tournament of the PGA tour. He walked each round of the 44 tournaments in 45 weeks… 3256 holes… 988 miles.

As ABC showed film of this young man’s journey, you couldn’t help but wonder if physical pain was involved. His dad had tears in his eyes as he explained that the pressure on D. J.’s feet was incredible because his toes were twisted. Each day seven or eight Band-Aids would be placed on his feet to minimize blisters. This dad was so proud of his son because he set a goal and did not give up. D. J. fell 29 times over the course of the year on the best golf courses in America. “I’m going to fall; it’s just the way it is. So you know what? You get back up, and you learn from your mistakes, and you don’t do it again.”

As I read parts of his blog about each round of golf he walked with a different professional golfer in 2008, this 30-year-old competitor always ended the section writing something like this: “I want to thank ___________ for his kindness and generosity at the Memorial.” “I would like to thank ___________ for spending time with me last week.” “As I finish my week here, I want to extend my deepest appreciation and gratitude to ____________.” And on a particular weekend he wrote, “I would like to especially tell my mom, Jackie, how much I appreciate her unconditional love and support. I love you!”

Perhaps this man’s greatest attribute is that he is grateful! He could complain. He could dwell on the things he can’t do. He could quit. But instead, D. J. Gregory keeps taking one step at a time while telling those around him, “Thank you.”

Our family is full of thanksgiving as we heard Kinsey’s voice on American soil yesterday. We hope to see her in person sometime in the next thirty-six hours.

May hearts full of gratitude be lifted to our Father in Heaven every day he gives us!

I’ll be away next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. I will give thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation… You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:19-21, 28-29)